Principal Officers and Chiefs of Mission, by Year: 1898

NOTE TO READERS

Updates to the Principal Officers and Chiefs of Mission database are currently suspended. For information about the Department’s current and recent leadership, we recommend visiting the Department of State homepage’s Biographies of Senior Officials and List of U.S. Ambassadors.

Notice posted on January 12, 2024.
Last updated March 14, 2024.

Note: Career Foreign Service appointees are asterisked.

Alvey Augustus Adee (1842–1924)
- Third Assistant Secretary of State (1882–1886)
- Second Assistant Secretary of State (1886–1924)
- Secretary of State ad interim (1898)
- Assistant Secretary of State (1924)
Horace Newton Allen (1858–1932)
- Minister Resident/Consul General, Korea (1897–1901)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Korea (1901–1905)
James Burrill Angell (1829–1916)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, China (1880–1881)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Turkey (1897–1898)
John Barrett (1866–1938)
- Minister Resident/Consul General, Thailand (1894–1898)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Argentina (1903–1904)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Panama (1904–1905)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Colombia (1905–1906)
George H. Bridgman (1853–1925)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Bolivia (1897–1902)
Charles Page Bryan (1856–1918)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, China (1897)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Brazil (1898–1902)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Switzerland (1902)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Switzerland (1902)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Portugal (1903–1910)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Belgium (1909–1911)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Japan (1911–1912)
William Insco Buchanan (1853–1909)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Argentina (1894–1899)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Panama (1903–1904)
Alfred Eliab Buck (1832–1902)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Japan (1897–1902)
Powell Clayton (1833–1914)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Mexico (1897–1899)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Mexico (1898–1905)
Edwin Hurd Conger (1843–1907)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Brazil (1890–1893)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Brazil (1897–1898)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, China (1898–1905)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Mexico (1905)
Thomas Wilbur Cridler (1850–1914)
- Third Assistant Secretary of State (1897–1901)
William Rufus Day (1849–1923)
- Assistant Secretary of State (1897–1898)
- Secretary of State (1898)
Charles Denby (1830–1904)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, China (1885–1898)
William Franklin Draper (1842–1910)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Italy (1897–1900)
Irving Bedell Dudley (1861–1911)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Peru (1897–1907)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Brazil (1906–1911)
John Walker Fearn (1832–1899)
- Minister Resident/Consul General, Greece (1885–1889)
- Minister Resident/Consul General, Romania (1885–1899)
- Minister Resident/Consul General, Serbia (1885–1889)
Thomas Barker Ferguson (1841–1922)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Sweden (1894–1898)
William Rufus Finch (1847–1913)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Paraguay (1897–1905)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Uruguay (1897–1905)
Arthur Sherburne Hardy (1847–1930)
- Minister Resident/Consul General, Iran (1897–1899)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Greece (1899–1901)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Romania (1899–1901)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Serbia (1899–1901)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Switzerland (1900–1903)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Spain (1902–1905)
Thomas Skelton Harrison (1837–1919)
- Agent/Consul General, Egypt (1897–1899)
Charles Burdett Hart (1851–1930)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Colombia (1897–1903)
John Milton Hay (1838–1905)
- Assistant Secretary of State (1879–1881)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, United Kingdom (1897–1898)
- Secretary of State (1898–1905)
William Henry Heard (1850–1937)
- Minister Resident/Consul General, Liberia (1895–1898)
David Jayne Hill (1850–1932)
- Assistant Secretary of State (1898–1903)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Switzerland (1903–1905)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Luxembourg (1905–1908)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Netherlands (1905–1908)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Germany (1908–1911)
Ethan Allen Hitchcock (1835–1909)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Russia (1897–1898)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Russia (1898–1899)
Whiteside Godfrey Hunter (1841–1917)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Guatemala (1897–1903)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Honduras (1897–1903)
Hamilton King (1852–1912)
- Minister Resident/Consul General, Thailand (1898–1903)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Thailand (1903–1912)
John G.A. Leishman (1857–1924)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Switzerland (1897–1901)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Turkey (1900–1906)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Turkey (1906–1909)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Italy (1909–1911)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Germany (1911–1913)
Francis Butler Loomis (1861–1948)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Venezuela (1897–1901)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Portugal (1901–1902)
- Assistant Secretary of State (1903–1905)
- Secretary of State ad interim (1905)
William Lawrence Merry (1835–1911)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Costa Rica (1897–1907)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, El Salvador (1897–1907)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Nicaragua (1897–1907)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Costa Rica (1907–1908)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Nicaragua (1907–1908)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Costa Rica (1908–1911)
Thomas Moonlight (1833–1899)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Bolivia (1894–1898)
John Bassett Moore (1860–1947)
- Third Assistant Secretary of State (1886–1891)
- Assistant Secretary of State (1898)
- Counselor (1913–1914)
Stanford Newel (1839–1907)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Netherlands (1897–1903)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Luxembourg (1903–1905)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Netherlands (1903–1905)
Horace Porter (1837–1921)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, France (1897–1905)
William Frank Powell (1848–1920)
- Chargé d’Affaires, Dominican Republic (1897–1904)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Haiti (1897–1905)
William Woodville Rockhill (1854–1914)
- Third Assistant Secretary of State (1894–1896)
- Assistant Secretary of State (1896–1897)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary/Consul General, Greece (1897–1898)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary/Consul General, Romania (1897–1898)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary/Consul General, Serbia (1897–1898)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Greece (1898–1899)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Romania (1898–1899)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Serbia (1898–1899)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, China (1905–1909)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Russia (1909–1911)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Turkey (1911–1913)
Archibald Johnson Sampson (1839–1921)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Ecuador (1897–1905)
Harold Marsh Sewall (1860–1924)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Hawaii (1897–1898)
John Sherman (1823–1900)
- Secretary of State (1897–1898)
Owen Lun West Smith (1851–1926)
- Minister Resident/Consul General, Liberia (1898–1902)
Bellamy Storer (1847–1922)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Belgium (1897–1899)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Spain (1899–1902)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Austria (1902–1906)
Oscar Solomon Straus (1850–1926)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Turkey (1887–1889)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Turkey (1898–1899)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Turkey (1909–1910)
Granville Stuart (1834–1918)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Paraguay (1894–1898)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Uruguay (1894–1898)
Laurits Selmer Swenson (1865–1947)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Denmark (1897–1905)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Switzerland (1909–1911)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Norway (1911–1913)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Norway (1921–1930)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Netherlands (1931–1934)
William Widgery Thomas Jr. (1839–1927)
- Minister Resident, Sweden (1883–1885)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Sweden (1889–1894)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Sweden (1897–1905)
Charlemagne Tower (1848–1923)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Austria (1897–1899)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Russia (1899–1902)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Germany (1902–1908)
Lawrence Townsend (1860–1954)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Portugal (1897–1899)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Belgium (1899–1905)
Andrew Dickson White (1832–1918)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Germany (1879–1881)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Russia (1892–1894)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Germany (1897–1902)
Henry Lane Wilson (1856–1932)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Chile (1897–1904)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Greece (1902)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Romania (1902)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Serbia (1902)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Belgium (1905–1909)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Mexico (1909–1913)
Stewart Lyndon Woodford (1835–1913)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Spain (1897–1898)